


Courtship by books

by Rogercat



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin
Genre: Courtship, Dorne, Dornish characters, Eventual Romance, F/M, Mentions of asthma, Pre-Canon, Pre-Relationship, Young Love, persons of colour
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-23
Updated: 2020-06-23
Packaged: 2021-03-03 20:01:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24881224
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rogercat/pseuds/Rogercat
Summary: Princess Aria Martell and her future Prince consort, Ihsan Jordayne, had a unexpected start to their courtship
Relationships: Unnamed Princess of Dorne/her Prince consort
Kudos: 6
Collections: Southern Renaissance (Dorne Renaissance)





	Courtship by books

**Author's Note:**

> Inspiration for this comes from the library scene in the 1999 movie The Mummy

Year 242 A.C, Old Palace in Sunspear: 

Eighteen-year-old Princess Aria Martell, oldest child to the ruling Princess Aminah Martell, was now old enough to be married. She had came of age two years ago, but her widowed mother had warned her for marrying that early, how it would result in a higher risk of having possible troubles related to pregnancy and childbirth if Aria did have children before her body matured a little bit more. 

“Well, I am glad that King Aegon V had not offered his middle son as a possible consort to me, with how Jaehaerys have ended up marrying his own sister Shaera two years ago!”

The mere thought of entering the marriage bed with a brother sharing the same parents as herself and bearing his children was enough to make Aria shudder in horror. As she was a fourth generation-descendant of Maron Martell and his Targaryen bride Daenerys, herself a product of full-blood siblings as parents, Aria had grown up with one important lesson repeated from her very birth: 

“ _ Marry a husband that is as distantly related to House Martell as possible. We need to clean out the inbreeding that Daenerys was born with. _ ”

Out of the four grandparents to princess Daenerys, her paternal and maternal grandmother Larra Rogare was the only one not being a Targaryen. Her great-grandmother on both sides, Rhaenyra Targaryen, had been half-Arryn though her mother Aemma, but her husband Daemon, the father of Aegon III and Viserys II, had not only been her own paternal uncle, he had also been the son of a Targaryen brother-sister marriage. 

“At least I have known several possible choices for my consort while growing up. Nearly all of us have met as children in the Water Gardens, and what once was childish boys who I found foolish or annoying at that time, will have grown into young men now.” 

Ever since her 16th name day, Aria had gotten various offer of courtship and gifts from suitors. Yet her personal favorite was a handwritten book on old legends and lore from the seven kingdoms. Perhaps the author had not left Dorne for whatever reason, but instead had trusted servants do the travel, but she was awed by the details and all the work to gather a such collection. 

“Princess. House Jordayne of the Tor would like to suggest their third son Ihsan as a possible Prince consort for you.”

“Ihsan Jordayne?”

She knew him, only a few months younger than herself, the sort of person most often found with his head in a book, sitting in a quiet corner to get peace and quiet for his reading. But there had been a reason for why the third Jordayne son had been like that; something with his airways that made him wheezing and suffer shortness of breath whatever he had tried to take part of the weapon training or some other form of exercise outside horse riding. 

Ihsan was perhaps not the most handsome man in Dorne among those in their age, but he had a personality that Aria liked in that he could offer advice in difficult situation and he would hardly be the first Prince or Princess consort that was not a lover of conflicts. 

Aria recalled a few of her friends almost swoon over how Ihsan could nearly be surprisingly  **_seductive_ ** in the literary arts, with poems, storytelling, legends and tales of people that was less famous in history. It was his special interest, what he had used to make up for not being a skilled warrior or a future Lord. As a third son with such talent for studying, he could have been sent to the Citadel if it were not for his illness. 

“I think I will visit House Jordayne next month. If Ihsan can prove himself as a possible consort, I think there will be no end of bed stories for our future children at least.”

~X~X~X~X~X~X

**_Let it be Written._ **

That was the word for House Jordayne of the Tor, which would almost be personalized in the third son Ihsan with his interests in books. By a rule, he preferred old lore, legends and mysteries that had nearly been forgotten with the passing of time. 

Right now he was in the ancient family library, keeping himself busy to place books back on the right shelves. Sometimes visitors would put back a borrowed book in the wrong place, and it could end with no book on the right shelf in the longer term. Therefore, Ihsan spent every seventh day to check over the library shelves for books in the wrong place and put them back right. 

“ _ Surviving songs from the Rhoynar. Stories from the time before the Targaryen dynasty... _ hm?” 

Oh great. A book that would not be placed in the shelves with the letter S. Good thing that he had spotted it in time. 

“ _ The Others: the mysterious danger of the Long Night _ ? Wrong shelf for you, then.”

However, there was one problem: Ihsan had been balancing on a ladder to reach up where the other books would be, and this book would be right across the small space. 

“I can do it, I only need to not trip over on the floor…”

Princess Aria Martell would arrive soon as a guest. His two older brothers and parents hoped that he would be a choice as her future Prince consort. As such, he needed to finish here in the library quickly and take a bath so he would be clean and well-dressed for her arrival. 

“Oh-huh…”

Suddenly Ihsan found gravity working against him, just as he was half-ways to reach the other shelf. He was now balancing in a dangerous manner on the ladder, holding tightly on the top step in a desperate attempt to not fall either forwards or backwards towards the floor. 

“Not the floor, not the floor…” 

Choosing the least likely way to injury himself seriously, Ihsan twisted his body as if he could have been dancing, and landed straight into the shelf where he just had been putting back the books. 

Because of the united weight of Ihsan and the ladder as he fell forwards, the book shelf fell over. Into the book shelf behind, and then the same on the following one, like a children's game of dominoes. All it would take was one push and it would all come tumbling down. 

It took maybe only a minute or so for all the bookshelves to end up collapsing in a neat circle around Ihsan, who was staring in the middle at the mess with all the books falling out of the shelves as they collapsed, unable to believe what just had happened. 

“Well, that surely is a new way of courtship, for sure.”

Ihsan turned around in growing horror at hearing the female voice. By pure luck, the last bookshelf nearest the library door had been empty, and that had saved Princess Aria from getting heavy books falling over her, where she now stood between the two shelves on each side of the door. 

And naturally his oldest brother Trebor was standing right behind her, mirroring the shocked look that had been on Ihsan only moments before. 

“Ihsan! What did you do to make this mess?!” 

But Princess Aria seemed to find the whole situation more funny than shocked, from how she bent over by laugher over how the future Lord Jordayne lamented all the work needed to fix the mess and Ihsan trying to find the right words to explain how it had happened in the first place. 

“Well, ser Trebor, your brother merely invited a new way use books in a attempt of courtship, that is all.”

Most likely, it was only her presence that prevented Trebor from giving Ihsan a massive scolding for now.

~X~X~X~X~X~X

During the dinner that night, Ihsan knew that his whole family was disappointed in him for the mess in the library. But the future ruling Princess seemed to find it charming somehow to see him not even trying to escape from mistakes, so maybe he had not screwed a chance to court her yet. Hopefully.

“Ihsan.”

He could barely eat of the food, because he was distracted. 

“Yes, Princess?”

Did the Princess even know how stunning she was in a dress made by gold cloth? Like a daughter of the sun, taking the shape of a mortal woman...

“Would you like to come along back to Sunspear at the end of my visit here? Madre is going to hold a ball and I would like to have a dance partner to start the evening with.”

“Yes, please!” Ihsan responded in a higher voice than normal, then blushed heavy when he realized that. Suddenly, the sour wine with rare ice cubes and lemon sorbet seemed to not be enough to lessen the quickly raising heat in his face. 

But Aria was pleased even more when she, after some talk with her hosts, found a book with love poems on the bed in her bed chamber. It seemed to be unfinished, but now she saw that the handwriting matched the one in the other book she had gotten from a unknown suitor, she had a pretty good guess on who the sender must be. 

“I wonder if he will try to finish this for a wedding date?”

Ihsan was charming in his own way, which Aria found herself likening more and more now after seeing how he was as a adult and not the quiet boy from childhood. 

**Author's Note:**

> Aria and Ihsan are my chosen names on the parents for Doran, Elia and Oberyn. I headcanon Ihsan to have asthma, and that Elia inherited some of that heath issure from him due to being born one month premature


End file.
